A 3-D Hydrodynamic Dispersion Modelfor Modeling Tracer Transport in Geothermal Reservoirs

摘要

A 3-D hydrodynamic dispersion model for tracer transport is developed and implemented into the TOUGH2 EOS3 (T2R3D) module. The model formulation incorporates a full dispersion tensor, based on a 7-D velocity field with a 3-D, irregular grid in a heterogeneous geological system. Two different weighting schemes are proposed for spatial average of 3 -D velocity fields and concentration gradients to evaluate the mass flux by dispersion and diffusion of a tracer or a radionuclide. This new module of the T0UGH2 code is designed to simulate processes of tracer/radionuclide transport using an irregular, 3-D integral finite difference grid in non-isothermal, 3-D, multiphase, porous/fractured subsurface systems. The numerical method for this transport module is based on the integral finite difference scheme, as in the T0UGH2 code. The major assumptions of the tracer transport module are: (a) a tracer or a radionuclide is present and transported only within the liquid phase, (b) transport mechanisms include molecular diffusion and hydrodynamic dispersion in the liquid phase in addition to advection, and (c) first order decay and linear adsorption on rock grains are taken into account. The tracer or radionuclide is introduced as an additional mass component into the standard T0UGH2 formulation, time is discretized fully implicitly, and non-linearities of the conservation equations are handled using the Newton/Raphson iteration. We have verified this transport module by comparison with results of a 2-D transport problem for which an analytical solution is available. In addition, a field application is described to demonstrate the use of the proposed model.